But I'll start off generally. Just wanted a thread for software, I don't know if we ever had a thread like this but we keep talking about different software and different stuff every now and then in other threads and it gets confusing. I'd like to start off a list of free and not-so-free programs that I am aware of slash used slash looked into slash heard good things about.

The basic problem of course is to find something very easy to use and at the same time powerful. It's almost always one or the other.

SolveigMM AVI TrimmerSolveigMM AVI Trimmer is a free video editor to allow you to AVI movie cut extremely fast and lossless. This freeware AVI editor software is small, smart, easy to use and involves no encoding/decoding processes. AVI Trimmer solves annoying out of sync problem. It operates with all known types of AVI including DV AVI type 1 and 2.http://www.solveigmm.com/?Products&p=AVITrimmer .I have personally used this and fully recommend it. It's about as easy as it gets.

Avid Free DVWhen compared with other consumer-end non-linear editors such as iMovie and Windows Movie Maker, it sported more powerful video processing tools, but lacked the ease-of-use and shallow learning curve emphasized in similar programs due to the fact that it had the full interface of the professional Avid systemhttp://www.avid.com/freeDV/This is discontinued but you can still get ahold of it. I have heard time and time again and it seems to be unanimous almost that this is about as powerful a software as you can get for free and its a lot more powerful than some commercial programs. The drawback is a major learning curve which has prevented me from ever actually using it. When you have trouble even opening a file and can't find simple stuff.. I gave up.

AvidemuxAvidemux is a free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. It supports many file types, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF, using a variety of codecs. Tasks can be automated using projects, job queue and powerful scripting capabilities.http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/I am using this now. another member on here uses this and has already said good things about it. I am learning to use this and hopefully I can make good use of it.

Virtual dubA powerful freeware video editor with lots of features, including a choice of compression codecs, splitting, addition of audio tracks. Excellent.http://www.virtualdub.org/as far as I know its one of the best tools there is to work with avi and doing simple cuts and edits and such. You can change aspect ratio, add filters, change fps rates, various encoding methods and a whole bunch of things very very easily. It's awesome but I don't think its best for actually making a highlight reel.

Sony Vegas VideoA very very powerful commercial program that not only costs a good amount but also needs some getting used to. Or I am just not trying hard enough or missing something very simple because I can't get these to work. I don't get the whole concept of having a bin and.. video/audio tracks etc.

can someone teach me the basics of importing a video onto the timeline? I mean I am trying to learn AVID but I can't even get the video to open and you know.. forget about making the reel .. i can't even open the video in the program

Dmast .. help me with sony vegas at least.. as far as i can tell.. all these non-linear editing software have a similar structure .. i have bins and i need to open the video and see it on 1 timeline and be able to make my own reel on another timeline .. HELP ME!

can someone teach me the basics of importing a video onto the timeline? I mean I am trying to learn AVID but I can't even get the video to open and you know.. forget about making the reel .. i can't even open the video in the program

Dmast .. help me with sony vegas at least.. as far as i can tell.. all these non-linear editing software have a similar structure .. i have bins and i need to open the video and see it on 1 timeline and be able to make my own reel on another timeline .. HELP ME!

Where to start....Exactly what is the problem. How are you importing video into the timeline? What kind of video are you attempting to import? It's usually best to use uncompressed avi.So we start with those qestions and work from there.

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Is a tree as a rocking horseAn ambition fulfilledAnd is the sawdust jealous?I worry about these things .Kevin Godley & Lol Crème (I Pity Inanimate Objects)

can someone teach me the basics of importing a video onto the timeline? I mean I am trying to learn AVID but I can't even get the video to open and you know.. forget about making the reel .. i can't even open the video in the program

Dmast .. help me with sony vegas at least.. as far as i can tell.. all these non-linear editing software have a similar structure .. i have bins and i need to open the video and see it on 1 timeline and be able to make my own reel on another timeline .. HELP ME!

Where to start....Exactly what is the problem. How are you importing video into the timeline? What kind of video are you attempting to import? It's usually best to use uncompressed avi.So we start with those qestions and work from there.

uh.. let me install sony vegas (again, for the 50th time, which means that's 49 times I have given up ) i don't know about uncompressed avi, that would take up much more harddrive space than I have so its basically the avi files that i get off the torrents. or any.. "normal" avi... like how about any of our highlight reels? those are normal avi for me i think. and am i right in that i should be able to import most video files, not only avi..

how am I importing? uhh.. how about this i'll run a screen capture vid and upload that vid for you tonight? i mean there really isn't much that i have been able to do.

can someone teach me the basics of importing a video onto the timeline? I mean I am trying to learn AVID but I can't even get the video to open and you know.. forget about making the reel .. i can't even open the video in the program

Dmast .. help me with sony vegas at least.. as far as i can tell.. all these non-linear editing software have a similar structure .. i have bins and i need to open the video and see it on 1 timeline and be able to make my own reel on another timeline .. HELP ME!

Where to start....Exactly what is the problem. How are you importing video into the timeline? What kind of video are you attempting to import? It's usually best to use uncompressed avi.So we start with those qestions and work from there.

uh.. let me install sony vegas (again, for the 50th time, which means that's 49 times I have given up ) i don't know about uncompressed avi, that would take up much more harddrive space than I have so its basically the avi files that i get off the torrents. or any.. "normal" avi... like how about any of our highlight reels? those are normal avi for me i think. and am i right in that i should be able to import most video files, not only avi..

how am I importing? uhh.. how about this i'll run a screen capture vid and upload that vid for you tonight? i mean there really isn't much that i have been able to do.

Most stuff downloaded from torrents are compressed in some way. Hard drive space is going to be a problem for you. Vegas handles them, but extremely slow and clunky. If you can resave as, or use something to convert them to, uncompressed avi, it will go much smoother.

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Is a tree as a rocking horseAn ambition fulfilledAnd is the sawdust jealous?I worry about these things .Kevin Godley & Lol Crème (I Pity Inanimate Objects)

personally, i believe that adobe after effects is the way =Dbut i think it costs over 400 bucks? so yeah :Pout of the stuff u chose i'd say Sony Vegas is the bestI currently have sony vegas and the stuff u can do with it is just greatalthough not like the photoshop of videos (after effects) u can still do heaps with italso with converters go to any video converter (just type it in google) and download itit's free and it politely asks u to upgrade - which u can declineand it can convert, flv, mpeg1and2, avi, wmv mp4 and mov

MPEG Streamclip + Quicktime Pro comboIt is proven and tested on a mac but these tools are available for windows as well. Keep in mind this is a combo deal. You must download BOTH quicktime and MPEG Streamclip as MPSC uses QT as its player.What you will need:- MPEG Streamclip: http://www.squared5.com/ (follow the instructions for installation)- Quicktime Pro - PC (optional, you could just use normal quicktime + QT alternative):

Using MPEG Streamclip.So open your video file in MPEG Streamclip. If the picture pops up and you can play it, great. If not, I will address this later. So once the video plays correctly in mpsc's player, push the "i" and "o" keys (in and out) to highlight the portions you want to cut out (the region you selected will become darker) and when you are ready to cut, hit Apple + X (mac) or Ctrl + X (pc) to delete. screenshot (notice the darkened portion in the timeline):

You can also increase the picture resolution to seek more accurately. Once you are done, goto File-->Save as-->MOV file. This will create a uncompressed highlight file, which you cannot post because it doesn't play smoothly. But keep this mov file if you want to keep the uncompressed material (you can delete the full match at this point if you are sure you won't need it anymore)Now you can open this .mov file in MPSC and this time you go to File--> and export it into whichever format you like.

What to do if the video won't open in MPEG Streamclipfirst off, it will not open mkv files directly. What you have to do for mkv's is open it in quicktime pro (you will need the codec pack) and save that as a reference movie. You can then open the reference movie in mpsc (although you might as well edit in quicktime since there is no audio cutting issues with mkv's)Some avi's with ac3 audio won't play the audio in MPSC. So you just open in QT and save as reference and open the ref .mov in MPSC. Now MPG files are another story. if the codec is MPEG-2 you will have to purchase or obtain "unconventionally" the MPEG-2 component for QT (I'm still trying to do the latter). The irony is that most MPEG files cannot be opened in a software called "MPEG" streamclip

So I think that's about it. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask

although I do not like this program as much as MPEG Streamclip or QT pro, it is one of the most powerful standalone programs out there, able to open practically any type of file and export with extremely advanced settings. The main drawback is that it crashes very often

As with all video editors, Avidemux is based on setting markers and deleting the portion that is highlighted. For avidemux's case, you use "[" and "]" keys on the keyboard. As you look at the screenshot below, the section highlighted by the blue rectangle is the portion you will delete

To open your video file, click the folder icon on the top left. To save your project as (basically saves all your editing so you can resume later) click the green button on the top (may be different for pc's). You will notice there are TWO save buttons, the left one is for creating your final video file and the right one is for saving your already created project.

If you start editing, you will notice that after every cut, the video playhead is placed to the point where the cut was made, forcing you to rewatch the point. However you can skip on iframes using the UP arrow, kind of like fastforward if you wish.

Also for most avi's you will have to wait for avidemux to unpack bitstream and/or build VBR map which takes forever but is necessary to keep syncronization. For h264 files, it will ask you to use Safe mode and then Tool-Rebuild Frame? Click yes or no for Safe mode (doesn't really matter) and click NO for rebuild frame

You might also notice that it crashes often, like 1/3 times you open a video and mess with it, it will crash at unexpected times and you must save after every cut, sometimes after every marker set just to be safe.

Despite some of its drawbacks, I still recommend getting this since it is an all-in-one package that handles so much and encodes brilliantly. If you want to download a single free program that can make highlights out of practically anything, this is your best bet!

I tried it out with my MV, all the reverse motions and things came out very smoothly. It's still got a few bugs here and there, but I think it's more intuitive than iMovie HD. The best part is that it saves to a self contained ".mov" file the way you'd save a word document. Very good for when you cant be bothered with encoding your highlights.

And with MPEG-2 files, have you tried converting them to another format through ffmpegX or PunyVid? I usually find one of these two will do the trick.

I tried it out with my MV, all the reverse motions and things came out very smoothly. It's still got a few bugs here and there, but I think it's more intuitive than iMovie HD. The best part is that it saves to a self contained ".mov" file the way you'd save a word document. Very good for when you cant be bothered with encoding your highlights.

And with MPEG-2 files, have you tried converting them to another format through ffmpegX or PunyVid? I usually find one of these two will do the trick.

now I'm interested I hate having import and export in DV which took up 700 mb for my 3:40 compilation

Saving the MV into a self contained .mov would be so awesome! Thanks

oh and for mpeg-2, I don't want to convert too many times so I just use avidemux.